The Witcher Reviews

• PURE VISUAL MAGIC!

  
  By A74TA8X5YQ7NE on 2007-10-28
  This is the most awaited fantasy cRPG in the past 2 years. For most part, IT DELIVERS!
  THIS IS ONE OF THE MOST BEAUTIFUL cRPG GAMES I HAVE EVER PLAYED!
  
  The environments are detailed, realistic, and can be experienced from up close. Grass, flowers and tree branches moved in both FABLE and TITAN QUEST as well; these, however, seem so true I caught myself reaching for my...antihistamines! Weather affects and day-night alterations (you have to see the elongating shadows to believe them!) are just gorgeous! More importantly, these are not just eye-candy: certain NPCs and monsters appear only when the correct combination of time-of-day and weather coincide...The horizon is far and the clouds move in endless variations. It reminded me of the sky of the original UNREAL, another visually ground-breaking game at its time. PURE VISUAL MAGIC!
  
  The character (Geralt) can master both sword-fighting and magic spells (what is known as a Warlock). To some die-hard RPG fans this may seem like heresy, nevertheless, keep in mind that multi-classing is not unheard off. The movement repertoire for both practices are impressively designed. Especially the sword-fighting, it is at par to any console action game. And the spells (both offensive and defensive ones) are not less impressive.
  
  Free roaming? Much more than FAR CRY or FABLE. Nevertheless, quests and side-quest still have to be completed and, yes, eventually a subtle, yet ever present, directionality is present.
  Looting and bartering? Aaah...yes, sort of. You practically never change the sword you start off with (although you do get to improve its abilities), whereas good armor is only a little easier to come by compared to PLANESCAPE. On the upside, you get to gamble, have romantic relationships (FABLE was full of great ideas after all!) and bribe for information, so trinkets have other uses as well.
  Detailed character modifiers? Nothing like the AD&D rules. You gain talents (gold, silver & bronze) which you can spend to improve your fighting or magical abilities. Pretty much like the DIABLO or the TITAN QUEST abilities systems.
  
  So, apart for the slight action-cRPG handicap, I have only two other objections. First, the...camera placement. Once more (remember NWN2...) auto-placement can get to your nerves as it targets your character even if that is not the most logical option. Second, the controls. They need getting used to as the fighting combos are easily ruined by clicking out of sync. You do eventually get the hold of it, however it keeps glitching.
  
  Whereas the BALDUR's GATES saga was story-heavy but (by today standards) visually lacking and the NEVERWINTER NIGHTS series was found, well, wanting in both aspects, THE WITCHER is the dream cRPG that BIOWARE was supposed to be capable of releasing all along. Finally it is here.
  
  RECOMMENDED!
  
  PS:
  It has come up in the readers' comments, so I feel I should warn that this is the CENSORED version (the original version has some nudity and more...realistic language). Obviously, once more, ATARI believes America to be violence-insatiable yet sexually-immature.
  I understand that these issues are important to many parents and they do have the right to raise their children as they see fit. Nevertheless, I would rather BOTH versions were available to chose from.
  The uncensored version is available in Europe (you could try amazon.uk).
  
  

• One big flaw but otherwise an excellent PC RPG

  
  By A2KN173CRJC693 on 2007-11-18
  Let's get the bad stuff out of the way first....
  The engine:
  The one big flaw is the load/save times. Everybody hates it and everybody should. The game is easily worth the annoyance that comes with this, but c'mon people...learn to optimize your code! By the end of the game I kept a magazine at my computer which allowed me to tolerate it better...I recommend you plan ahead and do the same. I also had about one crash/ 6 hours gameplay. If you include an occasional combat lock (character would enter a tragic stutter loop, especially when pinned against impassable terrain and monsters) it came to about one forced reload / 3 hours. I don't consider that too bad for RPGs...it just isn't possible to test everything for every computer. Of course, the annoyance factor for a crash is way higher when reloading takes forever. On the flip side I never had to go farther back than one save because of a plot break.
  
  Graphics:
  Very good. Not groundbreaking, but immersive and high quality. I found myself chasing a bunch of pigeons just to watch them take off and climb higher and higher into the sky. The sunset is beatiful and lights up the whole sky. I started with the settings on high until the additional load-times outweighed the eyecandy enjoyment (about halfway through).
  
  The combat system(gameplay):
  Innovative and interesting. The attack chaining system is good, though a little unfair how easy some enemies are 'stun-locked.' Magic and swordplay interact well. They both become very powerful, but not too fast to be uninteresting. I highly recommend playing the game on hard to keep it interesting though...hard forces you to use alchemy to survive. This triumverate (sword, sorcery, alchemy), makes combat and character development very engaging. There is more than one way to conquor the system. The character has one MAJOR advantage though...speed. You can easily outrun anything. While some combats were a struggle, I could usually start running while under the influence of the 'speed healing' potion and ultimately win against more powerful enemies. Also, the game does depend on a few basic click skills. If you get stuck on one it could be very frustrating. Be sure your graphic settings do not kill your mouse timing. Also, IMHO the over the shoulder camera is far superior to the others...for all aspects of the game.
  
  Inventory system:
  Some good choices, some mediocre ones. Keeping quest items separate was a stroke of genius. You never have to worry about dropping a primary plot item. Treating big items (weapons and armor) separate from little ones (alcohol, food, greases) is a mixed blessing. There is no way to sell or delay choosing between weapons. They provide you with generous inn storage, but your on person storage is more limited. Personally I think they should go all or nothing (either very realistic like Stalker, or total conveinence (unlimited secondary items...unlimited weapons and armor would be going too far). However, there was clearly significant thought put into the whole system and it shows.
  
  Storyline:
  Slightly on the linear side, but there is still a strong sandbox element. The real strength is how your early choices impact the game later. It makes you think about the big choices for a long time because they really matter. Sometimes the consequences are very orthogonal, other times they are more predictable. There are a good number of interesting sidequests. Of special side quest note is the very 'notches on the bedpost' type set of cards that you collect for your 'secondary' conquests. While this is somewhat lewd, it is a very nice touch which adds alot of color to the game. Gambling and boxing are also secondary conquests which add alot of color. Very nice distractions from the main plot yet different from the standard FedEx side-quests. Because of the long range effect of plot choices, replayability is somewhat all or nothing. Reloading and trying the other choice works well for dialog options but not for plot twists. If you are a completist, prepare to be sucked in for a LONG time.
  
  The verdict:
  The real strength of the game is how it balances the different RPG elements. In this area it is amongst the best RPGs of all time. Most RPGs usually fail somewhere. Some lack a driving primary story that alters the world and choices that matter (Oblivion); some have character or combat development flaws (gothic 2...ever play a mage?); some are HORRENDOUSLY buggy (gothic 3); some are too linear (final fantasy). No game is perfect and much is a matter of taste, but most RPG gamers will greatly appreciate this offering...as long as they are patient with the loadtimes.
  4.5-5 stars for the game. Subtract a star for the aggravating load times = solid 4 star game.
  
  

• Excellent Story, Excellent Visuals, Excellent Dialogue

  
  By AGJ0NQD5T6WFG on 2007-11-07
  As a fan of some European games such as the Gothic series, I got my hopes up pretty high when I heard this one was making it into the States. I was a bit disheartened to learn that the U.S. version is somewhat censored (self-censored by the publisher, not the government or ESRB), and owning the uncensored version I can tell you that the differences are mostly minor and do not detract overall from the story.
  
  Being built on the NWN engine, you wouldn't know it. The entire rendering engine has been replaced, the control scheme is very different, and virtually the only thing I can say I recognized were some of the item highlights and inventory selection. Instead of tilesets, the developer designed each area in 3DSMax, and imported them into the engine.
  
  The results are very fresh and unique areas, and each area has the 'look' that the developer envisioned.
  
  I have not read the books by the Polish author who came up with the idea, and I do not believe they are yet available here in the U.S., but I do have to say that the story is very engaging, the characters are believable, the interaction and choices are real, and this is a very 'deep' RPG which forces you to make real choices that have no apparent right or wrong answer.
  
  The world isn't black and white, and most RPGs are. Not this one - every choice is shades of gray, and you will find it difficult to make decisions, sometimes which bear down to the lesser of two evils.
  
  If I had to compare it to other games, I'd say you had the story telling ability of Gothic, the feel of Knights of the Old Republic, and a bit of unique feel to the game.
  
  I believe this is worth the purchase, and even though I think the title of the game might put some people off, you won't be disappointed.
  
  There are no bugs to speak of, though a patch is available for download which fixes some minor annoyances.
  
  In all, I think this is a gem that may be overlooked by some at first glance, but for those who pick it up it will be one of those games you fondly remember as among your favorites.
  
  

• The Dreadful Aurora Engine

  
  By A8RGWWCC1PVMQ on 2007-11-05
  ***Revised since the initial review with the patch 1.2***
  
  I reserved this game after the promising previews released by many medium. Once the installation is completed, I was in for a shock.
  
  The game is quite linear, and many times you are confined to one small section of the worldmap until you complete enough essential quests to advance to the next level. The game is divided into several chapters. Within limit, you can do side quests any order you choose to or completely ignore them. To emphasize the strong narrative drive and more character-driven game, certain sacrifice of freedom is understandable. Not all RPGs should be TES (The Elder Scrolls) series. What cause the serious flaw of the game is the engine that was used to create the game.
  
  The immersion is constantly broken and hindered by horrific engine called 'Aurora Engine'. What could have been an impressive game is seriously marred by the dreadful 'Aurora Engine' by Bioware. Although the Polish game developers 'CD Projekt' modified 'Aurora Engine', they inherited all the shortcoming of the engine such as long loading time, framerate issue, bad camera angle, etc.
  
  The biggest problem caused by this God-awful engine is the loading time. You thought the loading time in 'NWN 2' was bad. The excessive loading times last from 30 seconds to upward of 2 minutes. It's bad enought that you do need to see the loading screen between indoor and outdoor environment, but God. I've never experienced such a long loading time since 'Gothic 3'. It breaks the immersion since you spend more time staring at your loading screen than traversing a tiny section of the game map at a time. Games like 'Oblivion' and 'Two Worlds' put the entire 'absolutely gigantic in-game map' on a single loading within 10 seconds, why does 'The Withcher' requires longer than 2 minutes to load small section of in-game map? Although 'Gothic 3' has arguably the worst loading time in the history of CRPG, once loading is done you don't have loading areas ever until you are dead. As often as you need to move back and forth into diffrent loading areas in 'The Witcher', this is quite a back-breaker.
  
  ***Revision Begins***
  With the patch 1.2, the loading time is significantly reduced, however, the initial loading takes still longer than 1 min close to 2 sometimes. Loading into smaller area takes about 10 seconds, but coming out still takes 20 to 30 seconds. The loading time is now definitely bearable, but still too long with all that required frequent loadings.
  ***Revision Ends***
  
  Almost equally problemetic is the camera angle. None of the three-available camera is good enough. Furthermore, it is really difficult to adjust the camera position within the already-confined range of the camera. At least in 'NWN2', the gamer had the ability to adjust the angle of the camera.
  
  Then comes the awful 'floating in the air' feel issue just as in 'NWN2'. This issue will take tolls even on the most powerful computer rigs currently available, and lowering your video options will hardly improve the matter. This is non-specs specific symptom caused by lack of optimization rather than serious stuttering framerate drop caused by lack of computer horsepower. Once loading is completed, the framerate itself is very steady and the game runs very smooth without hiccup or tearing.
  
  Besides all the inherited evils from 'Aurora Engine', the combat mechanics is broken. I give credit to the developers for trying to innovate RPG combat mechanics by combining turn-base / menu-driven combat and hack-and-slash click-fest combat. Although it works in theory, the gamer will be too preoccuppied to connect the combo attack, they miss out on combat animation altogether. The problem here is without constantly connecting chains of combo attack, you will not be able to carry out any attack, so you have to pay attention to on-screen signals to time your mouse-clicking. At least in clickfest combat, you can fix your eyes on the animation and enjoy.
  
  It's a shame, because this game has some impressive plotline and depth of characters and conversation that hasn't been seen since 'Planescape: Torment'. Past the aforementioned flaws, there are plenty of good gaming to be had, but what flaws the gamers are asked to overcome.
  
  Maybe some prefers isometric, bird's eye view camera angle deep into the 21st century. Many people claims to be a hard-core RPG gamers, and are proud to enjoy the limited camera angle, uninvolving combat, and clumsy menu interfaces. They wear them as if it were the badge of honor. I still have the original copies of every single 'Ultima', 'Baldur's Gate', 'Fallout', 'Diablo' series along with 'Planescape: Torment'. I enjoyed them in the past, and I'll cherish the awesome memories of them in the back of my mind, but I've moved on. In the 20th century, they were more than acceptible because of the limitation of the technology. I am forever ruined by non-linear, open-ended, free-form RPG such as TES, Two Worlds, and Gothic series. Heck, even some 2D isometric CRPGs like 'Divine Divinity' and 'Sacred Gold' offer huge non-linear, open-ended, free-form game world that require no loading. As much as I enjoy many games made by 'Bioware' engines, I really hate the fact that their games always give me this confined, limited feel due to the modular nature of the game world. If I have to give up nonlinear gameplay, then I'll have the grandeur of Final Fantasy series anytime of the day. If I have to give up more up close and personal combat over 'point and click with mouse', then I might as well just give up RPG altogether and enjoy the ever-terrific 'Total War' series.
  
  For those who can overcome the flaws of the game, character design is delicate and well-drawn, the environment is beautiful, dialogues are well-written, combat animation is exciting and various, and most of all, the story is distinctively different from the typical RPG elements. Choices are plentiful during the conversations. Many will affect the outcome in the future. The game is a spiritual succesor of the RPG classic 'Planescape: Torment'. If you ever played the game, you have some idea of what to expect. The overall production value is exceptionally outstanding, and the game is nicely polished. It is truly a shame because this game could have been one of the best RPG game without in-game technical flaws, and these are flaws patches cannot fix.
  
  

• Game crashes constantly on Vista

  
  By A2GM1VHH7OXT1B on 2007-11-10
  I really, really wanted to like this game because I love the premise. However, I was unable to play it more than 30 minutes at a time due to it crashing constantly. It would happen when the game was loading a new screen and when I tried to save my progress. My computer specs go above and beyond what is recommended, I have downloaded all of the patches available, I have tried everything under the sun to get this game to work, and yet it STILL crashes. This is now a well known issue and there are tons of people, besides myself, having this problem.
  
  If you have Vista wait until they come out with patches that fix this because the game is unplayable.
  
  
• Exciting story that is painfully programmed
  By A3GM64N13BILUP on 2008-01-02
  The Witcher is an exciting RPG with an extremely interesting storyline. I mention this bit first because it is the game's biggest selling point... and because everything else in The Witcher is painfully flawed (even with the 1.2 patch installed). Let me put that out there again: EVERYTHING ELSE IN THE WITCHER IS PAINFULLY FLAWED. That's why this game is getting a 3 rating from me instead of a 5, and I'd go so far to say that, if I hadn't installed the patch, I'd have given the game a 1.5 at best.
  
  The most frustrating thing I've found about The Witcher is that it is buggy. Prior to the patch, save games would often be destroyed for no apparent reason, so players would have to be extremely diligent in storing their data often and in multiple slots. Even after the patch, corruptions still occur - they just happen less frequently. As well, the game tends to crash during large fights (especially those preceded by cutscenes) - something that is EXTREMELY frustrating (and may have to do with the autosave feature).
  
  But bugs are not the only failure in this game. The Witcher suffers from unoptimized code that runs poorly even on cutting-edge machines. The forced saving slows everything down, and load-times can be painfully slow. The graphics are decent, but not top-notch - they certainly aren't next-gen enough to be hogging the amount of resources that they do.
  
  What is coded tends to be poorly thought-out and executed. Combat is sluggish and, even though there are two modes, both feel clumsy (especially when trying the "over the shoulder" mode). Inventory management is painful, and the tavern vaults quickly become storage nightmares because players can not control how the locker is organized. Stereotypical RPG barrels abound, filled with unrealistic amounts of treasure and other items you'd think people would miss if you just took them - too bad they don't! ::sigh::
  
  The only saving grace of this game is the interesting story that develops around The Witcher as he adventures. Your character, a sort of supernatural Van Helsing that has seemingly returned from the dead, travels the world making one-liners and battling monsters while his memory slowly returns (yes, the influence of Planescape: Torment is obvious). Where has this dark hero been, and what impact will his previous and current actions have on the world? While most of the story is fixed, some choices DO have consequences, and alter the plotline to a degree. This adds a lot of enjoyment to the game, drawing the player in and making him/her care about what is going on.
  
  Conclusion: When it works, The Witcher is an extremely enjoyable RPG. Bugs, unoptimized code, and poor design choices diminish a lot of the games enjoyment, however. 3 Stars.
  
  
• OH Brave New World!
  By A18Y0QZPZ4COR9 on 2007-11-05
  I am not reviewing the game per se which looks amazing!
  
  I was actually about to buy it when I saw that the US version is censored.
  Since we apparently live in communist China I will go and buy my game in the UK.
  
  
• It was a dark and boring night...
  By A1DENY4Q39HD0N on 2007-11-09
  I start this review with a confession: I haven't finished the game yet. In fact, I've only played through most of the quests outside Vizima; I'm not yet into the city proper. Alledgedly the game "picks up", but I'm seriously running out of patience after investing many hours, bored out of my skull. Here are a list of observations:
  
  The graphics engine is really lovely (excepting a lot of random aliasing at night, which I try to tell myself are fireflies) and so are the sounds. The voice acting is above average, but the conversations are often structured poorly and are therefore not believable. People offer the same dialog choices over and over even though previous conversations should have made them obsolete, resulting in conversations that make no sense. (Especially annoying, the conversation trees frequently dump you out when you intend to continue speaking, so you have to click on a character again, to hear his/her oddly identical opening phrases once more.)
  
  This game ships with a hefty manual, but it is amazing how little information is actually provided. Like most recent game manuals, it's just installation instructions, a pile of spoilers for those interested, and not much else. This comes to your attention as you level up and find yourself navigating the most senseless skill tree of all time. Pre-requisites are unclear, skill distinctions are unclear, so what the heck, why not just select them all at random? That will be really fun.
  
  So character customization is out the window. 8 hours into the game, inventory has proven mostly useless, so trading is equally uninteresting. Gameplay is reduced to repetetive combat, and walking from place to place waiting for the odd conversations to spawn new quests and/ or cutscenes. Oh, had I forgotten to mention the walking? The outdoor environments are relatively large, and walking from point A to B happens essentially in realtime which, again, is insanely boring. Never have I seen a game so desperately in need of a fast travel solution. (Top it all off with long fences, your inability to jump over a fence, or even step off a ledge without a staircase, and the whole world becomes a big, dull maze.)
  
  When you do finally get to where your going, the boredom theme reaches it's apex: eternal load screens. Everytime you enter or leave an indoor location, you'll see as many as four delays. The current screen will pause for a few seconds, followed by a saving screen, followed by a generic loading screen, followed by (I couldn't make this up) a location-specific loading screen. And *each* of these are longer than any loading screen I've seen in any video game ever. If you suffer through this only to find your destination less interesting than you hoped (quite likely) you'll have to turn around and wait for it all over again, just to go back outside. Enjoy.
  
  Other niggles: if you expect the map to aid in your travels, note that there are no notations on it. You'll need to mouse over every location waiting for text to pop-up over its mysteriously identical dot markers. After you've waited a couple of seconds for it to - you guessed it - load.
  
  I could go on and on with the little niggles, but in many ways the game is very polished. The real issues are pacing, and the nearly meaningless skill tree. As for pacing, how many hours are we expected to invest before a game begins to entertain, or even make a point? I started to think about this during one of the "minigames", essentially rolling dice with the locals. I guess this is somewhat appropriate for a simulation of a boring rainy night in a medievel 'burb, but you know, I've got a Playstation in the next room, and could probably find something more fun to do. Failing that, maybe I could get some chores done.
  
  Unless something miraculous happens in the next 15 minutes of gameplay, I'm giving up on The Witcher. Even worse, this is the sort of game that makes me wonder whether I still like RPG's, after 20+ years of considering them "my genre".
  
  
• Without a doubt, the best RPG ever
  By A1QOWEVSB6WIUP on 2007-10-31
  I'm a long-time RPG player.
  Gothic 1 & 2 were my favorite games until now.
  The Witcher is the most open RPG I've ever played.
  Every choice, every decision you make affects the game.
  
  I never thought there would be a game this fantastic, this all-consuming.
  
  Everything about this game was well done by ther developers.
  The people that did Gothic 3 should have done this well, for that game (Gothic 3) was a total waste of money.
  
  I didn't like Oblivion at all. It's way too repetitive. Seems like you're doing the same tired old crap over & over.
  
  The Witcher is different, very different.
  The story, the battles, this game sucks you into a wonderful fantastic world and keeps you there.
  
  I've already finished this game and am currently playing it a 2nd time.
  This game will remain at the top of my favorites list until they come out with "The Witcher II".
  
  Yes, this is truly the best RPG ever.
  
  
• ENCRYTION CODE WON'T LET ME FINISH GAME
  By A3DNU9IZSYBXN on 2007-12-14
  First, great visuals, interesting story. But....two quest characters failed to spawn for me in chapter one. That means I can go no further. Researching the community pages for The Witcher reveals others also have this problem. It seems this problem is related to an encryption code error that prevents even some legitimate game disks from loading these quest characters early in the game as a piracy prevention scheme. So, I am stuck in chapter one.
  
  This may only apply to the uncensored version of the game, the one I
  bought.
  
  EDIT UPDATE 12-27-07
  I finally got the game to work. Here's what I did. I installed patch 1.2 (latest patch released just prior to Christmas), started the game all over again (took an hour or so to replay into chapter one) and I always start the game by reinserting the disk instead of leaving the disk in the drive between plays. Now the two main quest RPCs appear!!! Researching the community pages for this game indeed revealed that the game developers (CdProjekt) hired a European security company (TAGES) to install an anti-pirate scheme. It works by not allowing two key RPGs from respawning later in the game if you have started the game using a pirated copy. So, one can not finish the game with a pirated copy but a pirate will presumedly have played it enough to want to buy a legit copy.
  Unfortunetely, many folks with legitimate copies also had this problem (me included). Writing to CdProjekt or Atari(US distributor), or TAGES (Security company) got me no usefull responses. Actually, no response from either CdProject (sent to two DEVs) or Atari (sent twice). The email response from TAGES was so poorly written in english, I could not decipher it's meaning.
  So this remains a bitter sweet review. Even though they finally fixed the problem (I suspect the new patch), I have also learned that Cdproject and Atari have absolutely no usefull customer service to help someone when a problem occurs. Unlike Bethesda (Morrowind/Oblivion) and Ubisoft (Silent Hunter/Sturmovik IL2 series sims) who always answered me within one day with solutions or recommendations to my querries, Cdprojekt/Atari did not even respond that they will look into the matter. Hope this helps.
  02/13/08 Final Update
  I thought patch 1.2 fixed everything but I was wrong. When I started chapter 4 of the game, it started crashing constantly, every 5 minutes. I was just about to give up when I went back to the community pages and researched if anyone else was having similar issues. Sure enough a player named Mobidoy had the crashing problem and suggested modifying your vista machine. Go to the community pages and search Mobidoy to get the specifics (go to The Witcher Official site. Navigate to the forum pages. Select search. Type in "mobidoy". Scroll down to "Things to try to get the game running on vista".). You may not have to do them all but following Mobidoy's steps difinitely helped me. NO MORE CRASHES. The steps involve turning off user accounsts, increasing user Va, removing Enable Write Caching on the hard drive, disable visual theme and desktop composition. It seems like alot of mods but I did it in just a few minutes. I have not noticed any bad effects with my new vista machine or with any other software on the machine. My hat is off to Mobidoy for sharing the fixes. They really worked and probably helped my computer's overall performance.
  
  
• Ridonkidonk
  By A9Q6HZXBHSQ9V on 2007-11-07
  I had never heard of the Witcher when my roomate brought home a copy of this game. Never read a book, etc etc.
  
  I'm freaking hooked. This game is a great blend of "role playing" and real time action. A lot of games are getting closer to melding the strategic/action element, and this is probably the best one I've played so far.
  
  I'm going to play this for at least a month. I was bummed about Hellgates online hiccups, but now I don't care. I can wait until they iron out their problems. Shoot, I can probably wait longer. This is an awesome, awesome game.
  
  PS (I am interested in what the euro differences are. If anyone knows if they are significant, let me know. I'd go so far as to buy another version of the game - or even pay for a "de-censored" patch.)
  
  
• Completely engrossing game
  By A25FA129TKIYGR on 2008-01-14
  This review is for the 1.2 patched game- ignore reviews complaining about load times- the latest patch provided relief. (Would still like it a bit faster, but it was a vast improvement.)
  
  It took me a while - restarting the prologue - to get into this game. But once I grasped the mechanics of the combat system and moved the story along, I have to say this is flat out one of the most engrossing rpg-type games I have ever played. You get dealt a character, rather than making your own, which I initially thought would be off-putting. Instead, because the game world is so diverse and Geralt's development is "flexible", I ended up with a protagonist that I became quite attached too. You quickly realize you have to make decisions - for the most part, no wimping out - pick a choice and live with it. And the game rewards you for smart gameplay - don't want to spend money on books, to learn about plants and animals? Start asking around... some useful info can be found in the unlikeliest places. You need to strategize in some of your battles as well - you can't just jump in swinging and chug a potion to stay alive. The alchemy system is wonderful - and they found a smart way to prevent the player from simply chugging potions and creating a boringly uber character. If you don't manage your potion imbibing, your toxicity increases and Geralt's effectiveness is reduced.
  
  They gave the game world itself a lot of atmosphere. Each location has it's unique qualities, but the NPCs do go about and the place has the feel of being a dive section of a city, or a shoddy outskirts, or a seemingly bucolic island. The swamps are brutal (and a major complaint in the Cemetary Swamp - they overdid it on the drowners, to the point of ridiculousness.) The background language can be crude, but it suits the world that was created and does not feel particularly gratuitous.
  
  Geralt was fun to develop... play him as a hound dog, bedding many a pretty wench (tastefully done, although the US version was afraid to show a nipple or two for fear of upsetting... the mature people who would play this game, I guess.) Make him a true cold-hearted witcher, or develop him to have a bit of a conscience and make decisions that will affect the story going forward. Or create him with some sort of middle ground - neither truly cold, but also still quite self-interested. Some of the decisions suck - there is no clear right or wrong, and it may be quite a bit further on in the story where you will see a result from one of your earlier choices.
  
  For such a linear story, the game has replay-ability, because of the flexibility in developing Geralt and the changes you can make in the story will cause some events to change as well. After completing the game, I found myself actually sorry that it was over. (The ending narration is rather sad). As a result, I started a new game fairly quickly, wanting to see if I could keep Geralt more neutral this time around. The second go-round is as engrossing as the first (if a little easier, since you can play a bit smarter.) The opening and closing cinema cut-scenes are stunning and you'll end up watching them several times.
  
  The game is tough on the default setting, but beatable. Geralt will die a few times, so save. There was some unstability in my game in the later chapters IV and V, with several crashes to desktop, which was frustrating. (and again, save frequently.)
  
  I truly appreciate a game that makes me think, makes me like my heror in spite of his definite flaws, makes me work a bit and doesn't even attempt to handhold me through decisions. It even gave me a few laugh out loud moments - the voice acting is excellent and some of the dialog was great. It was one of my favorite gaming experiences to date.
  
  
• Best RPG in YEARS!
  By A259U1OXFQPN9D on 2008-01-14
  This is by far the best RPG I have played in years. I consider as one of my all times favorites along with Fallout, & Baldurs Gate. The story line is very rich & complex. The choices you make really DO AFFECT you & others. Realy, it is just a FUN overall experience.
  
  
• I love this game.
  By A1E6FPWE7A8DY9 on 2007-11-01
  I purchased this game just yesterday, and I can't put the ruddy thing down. The graphics are beautiful, the story is gripping, and the game play is irresistible. I've rather taken up a fondness for poker dice.
  
  My only gripe is that I've heard that it is censored in some ways within the US version, which I don't appreciate. However, it doesn't really hinder the game play, and it's a smashing adventure nevertheless. Highly Recommended!
  
  
• Classic of the Genre
  By A254O5PCXMW7NM on 2007-11-12
  The Witcher will punish you. And you will like it. It will annoy, perplex and frustrate you. You will curse the 90's era inventory system. Get dizzy with the wonky camera. Marvel at how poorly the UI supports the crafting of potiions. Wonder at a character advancement system that forces everyone to be a generalist. You'll squint at the almost useless minimap and be thankful because it is the only thing that shows the many invisible terrain boundaries. You'll laugh, then cry, at quicksaves taking up to a minute to finish. And you'll curse when you crash and the games random autosave last backed you up two hours ago. Most of all, you will feel you're life slipping away as you stare at the loading screen for minutes at a time. During the load times you will catalog the games many faults in your head and wonder why you play it.
  
  The Witcher sucks you in like few other games. If you ever enjoyed an RPG, get The Witcher and give it three hours. The next 50 will be pure bliss. Top five all time RPGs, easily, and in terms of immersiveness it's at number one. It is hard to describe how it all comes together to pull of this amazing illusion of a real world populated with real people that you are really affecting. You need to see for yourself.
  
  Update: Load and save times are vastly improved as is stability with the latest patches. These are by far the most serious problems so now the game is that much better.
  
  
• Avoid this game unless your computer is newer than new
  By A2N46OZ9QHNMG on 2007-12-12
  I have a Dell XPS 700 Dual Core 2.4 Ghz with 2 GB of RAM, and an NVidia Geoforce 7900 GS.
  
  Transitioning zones is painfully slow; I could read up to a chapter of a good book while I wait. Moving in and out of buildings as small as a hut is considered a zone where the system needs to load the zone. The game crashes frequently as well.
  
  This was the most money I completely wasted in 2007. I'm sorry I purchased the product.
  
  Yes, if some one pays for full shipping, they can freely have the product from me.
  
  
• specs
  By A1FZYGS1FHD1MG on 2007-11-04
  the game recommends an athlon 64 3000 or better 2gb of ram and a geforce 7800gtx or better im running it with an athlon 64x2 5600 2gb of ram and a 7950gt with 512 video memory and it runs flawless and looks great. after playing the game for a few hours i exited to check temperatures and cpu was in low 30s and the gpu was low 50s so it didnt push the hardware to hard and the graphics are all set to high i only disabled anti aliasing. the load times i read were long but ive not seen very long load times at all. pick this game up its worth it
  
  
• Finally!
  By AVP1NL6GYMVR on 2007-11-24
  **UPDATE** For PC users, the fine makers of this game have released the 1.2 patch which DRAMATICALLY improves load times (by about 1/2 according to my tests) Now I am going to be yearning for the next release!! (PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE) :)
  
  I accidentally discovered this game (that's the way I usually find a new game) through an Amazon "suggestion". My life will never be the same now. Not since Planescape Torment has there been an RPG that touches on something completely different as a story line. Unlike other reviews, I'm not going to include a whole bunch of other stuff that you don't need to read... I'm just going to say you HAVE to buy The Witcher. I have only a couple of minor complaints about this game: Load times can be excruciatingly slow (but are worth it in the long run) and quest progression can be a little bit confusing at times. Other than that, I will never regret buying this game and it will be a prized "member" of my collection for years to come.
  
  
• Visually beautiful, technically bugged
  By APDUCWHP5J905 on 2007-12-14
  First with the bad stuff:
  I have a brand new computer which excedes the system requirements and run this game on Windows Vista. The game crashes constanly, so unless you guys don't save it every 5 minutes or so, you risk losing a lot of play time. I had to kill Javed twice, because after i killed him the 1st time and tried to save, the game crushed. The first chapter and 2nd chapters aren't that bad. The 3rd is the worst, the Trade Quater is much buggier than other zones, and the game crushes more frequently. The 4th, 5th chapters and the epilogue are tolerable. Also, the ammount of loading in the game is rediculous, it could've at least been avoided when entering/exiting the buildings.
  
  The good:
  The story line is amazing, and very unique; the characters are very believable. I couldn't put the game down and am sad that it only has 5 chapters. I hope they make an expansion or The Witcher 2. The game is not about running around looking for new gear and weapons, but making choices, it concentrates a lot on the story. Everytime you play it you can play it differently. The main character has a specific look which you can't really change much, which is good because it suits his personality.
  
  I was a little dissappointed to find out that the US virsion is censored. But i still had a blast with it. If you have a lot of patience like me and don't quit after a few crashing, you will have fun with it.
  
  
• Do not believe the hype, screenshots nor any of the vidoes.
  By A3KDDS7LT8DQDD on 2007-12-30
  After watching a number of video reviews and previews for the game, and after veiw the simply incredible screenshots, I decieded I had to have this game. All the reviews and previews promised fasxt paced and innovative combat, deep character customization and a large, explorable game world.
  
  Simply NONE of this was true.
  
  To begin with, the combat just doesnt feel right. It consists of simply clicking your opponent, watching some rather cheesy combat animations and then trying to time your next click so that your character performs a combo. Thats it. That is simply not innovative, but rather repettive after the first few battles.
  
  Next comes the camera. Where to begin? None of the camera angels feel right and all of them have defects. The up close camera constantly gets caught, faces the wrong way or simply impossible to maneuver. The mid range camera is too far out, making you miss out on the graphics, while the even further out camera makes your character look like little more than an animated dot.
  
  Next, traveling. Walking around in this game is problematic due to the camera, which gets caught.
  
  Load times. Load times are ludicrous in length and ruin the feel of the game.
  
  This game is simply not worth it, I gave it two stars for the decent graphics.
  
  
• Phenomenal
  By A2HKLWPPPMF6NI on 2007-11-05
  An amazing an engrossing game. Easily the best RPG I've played in years no question. If you are an RPG fan, you owe it to yourself to pick up this masterpiece. Spread the word!
  
  
• The Witcher hasn't ceased to amaze me....
  By A2V057TPVYETEN on 2007-11-14
  Love this game! The Witcher is not only one of my favorite games of '07, but it ranks up there with my all time favorites. After being extremely disappointed by the poor quality of Two Worlds earlier this year, I was a bit wary of purchasing another RPG. But rather than disappoint, The Witcher hasn't ceased amazing me. The developers of this game obviously took an enormous amount of care and effort to ensure that its story, characters, environments, quests, etc. were rich and immersive. Everything feels so authentic. Maybe that's because the creators of this game grew up in Eastern Europe surrounded by all that old world beauty. I also find the adult nature of the story refreshing. So many games claim to contain adult content, but the only adult content they seem to really have is violence. While The Witcher certainly is violent at times, it truly does offer other forms of adult content. I greatly enjoyed Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, but quite often with Oblivion, the NPCs in the game come off as too tame. There are so many games out right now that promise the world, but often only end up disappointing. The Witcher on the other hand is sure to delight any RPG fan (or really anyone who appreciates stunning visuals and a rich story). Oh yea, and a fun combat system too!
  
  
• LOTS of waiting
  By A3VMH93LP1EQAZ on 2007-11-19
  I got the game because it looked really good. I was concerned about reviewers who said there were abundant wait-times: they were right! When the game is running smoothly I spent about 50% of game time in cut-scenes or loading screens. For example, to get to a swamp there is a boat captain who takes you across a river, but to get him to do this you need to clicky FOUR times! Sounds like a small annoyance, but virtually every aspect of the game is set up like this. Enter or exit a building and you have loading time, try to get a room and wou have to chat with the inn keeper first, missions send you back and fourth within a zone until you've memorized it like the back or your hand. You begin to feel trapped within a zone because you can't leave until you solve the mostly linear puzzle. Sure there are sub-quests, and the experience you get from them is valuable, but at times you just want to kill these idiotic NPCs because you're forced to listen to the exact same animated sequences MANY times.
  
  All the aggravations are really too bad, because it is visually fantastic, and the story lines are solid. But they constructed it all in such a way as to make any longterm playing an aggravating experience.
  
  
• WOW!!! THANKS ATARI
  By A30CJA09ZUUBJ4 on 2007-11-21
  After reading the reviews, I don't see where I can really add much. I bought this game several Days ago. I saw it on the shelf and it sorta jumped out. I picked it up and read the blurbs, and decided to give it a try, based on two things: Bioware and Atari. After having played through Neverwinter Nights several times, I got kinda excited and as it turns out, for good reason. I am happily trucking along and having a blast playing this. You can really lose yourself in this. Yes, the load times are a little agravating when leaving a building or cave, as you want to get on with it. I quickly learned to just tolerate it. The graphics are really good, lots of detail. Unfortunately, this game has either gotten very little notice or I have missed it. As i said, I just accidentally ran across it on the shelf at the store, and I wasn't even looking to buy any games. I gave it 4 stars for fun based on the agravating load times, otherwise it would have been 5 stars across the board. Charlie S. Richmond Va.
  
  
• One of the best RPG's since Morrowind ...
  By A2WA2FOOD6WH28 on 2007-11-25
  This is one of the best RPG's I've played since Morrowind. It doesn't have the depth of exploration or interaction of Morrowind. But it goes beyond the current run-of-the-mill RPG.
  
  I usually don't pay attention to the story line because typically there isn't much of one. But this game differs. There's a story; it's interesting and it changes depending on the choices you make.
  
  The fun factor is definitely a 5-star rating, although I think the re-play value is limited. Certainly, it's more limited than Morrowind, which I still play 5 years later.
  
  Pros:
  
  -- Story - draws you in. You want to play.
  -- Graphics
  -- Lots of quests (many are secondary, if you don't want to do them)
  -- Simple/limited keyboard use (a con, if you like to control the moves yourself)
  -- Interaction - the story is linear, but the secondary quests you follow, and when you follow them, are up to you up to a point. There's significantly more interaction than Diablo II, but significantly less than Morrowind.
  -- Intuitive play - Few "I'm stuck" areas. I played this as soon as it came out, so there was virtually no online help. But I didn't feel like I needed it. There really wasn't anything I couldn't figure out.
  
  Cons:
  
  -- Game and scene load times (Game load takes 60-90 seconds on my laptop, and the processor is just under the minimum requirement. Scene load time takes about 30 seconds. Word is, a patch to address this problem is in the works.)
  -- Occasional black shadow, if playing with minimum graphics (I have a GeForce Go 7600, which is a 128 mg card running with 2g RAM.)
  -- Drawing a weapon is automatic and out of the player's control. There are a limited number of scenes where this is an issue; for instance, when you walk into an inn and encounter 5 or 6 bad guys with weapons already drawn and in attack mode. You have to wait for the game to respond, which means taking a hit (or 2).
  -- No character choice. You're a witcher and that's that. You have limited choices on how you build him up - to rely on the sword or magic.
  
  If you liked Neverwinter Nights or Baldur Gates, you will probably like The Witcher. Other similar games include Diablo, Diablo II, Lords of Destruction and Titan Quest.
  
  
• Great story line, long load times
  By A18U8F6W47NSFV on 2007-11-28
  The Witcher provides a very well written storyline, something that most RPGs do not. The decisions you make will have a immediate and long-term impact on the game which is refreshing as most RPGs just give you an immediate effect to your decisions. There are also many decisions that you will have to make without having complete information at your disposal, as such you won't know if you are making the righteous or evil decision. Again, this is also a refreshing change from your normal RPGs. The combat sytem is based on timing of clicks which is more entertaining then your simple hack slash RPGs like Diablo and Dungeon Siege. The only draw back I have with the same is the abnormally long load times. Unfortunately the game loads outdoor locations and indoor locations at different times rather then just loading the entire environment at once. The effect of this is that any time you enter a tent, house, or building you will be rewarded with a relatively short load time (5-10 seconds), only to get frustrated by the long (usually around 30 seconds to a minute) load time when you try to go back outside. Keep in mind I am running the game ona dual-core Pentium 2.4 ghz with 2 gigs of RAM. Despite the load times this is still one of the best RPGs I have ever played and I would recommend it to anyone.
  
  
• One of the best RPG's in a long time
  By A3GQCYPH9OLHAN on 2008-01-13
  This game is a ton of fun!!
  
  Graphics: Amazing visuals in this game, from the detail of towns and cities to the rain. Crows flying overhead complete the picture. Just the general feeling of everything being alive is really something to experience. 5 stars to graphics.
  
  Gameplay: The interface is very smooth and easy to use, and the controls are simple yet involving. The fighting is really really fun, and nothing like the monotonous hack and slash, button mashing of say...oblivion elder scrolls. There are tons and tons of characters to get involved with and you may find yourself a little overwhelmed at first with the number of quests. But not to worry, all tasks assigned to you flow smoothly together so that you wont find yourself getting annoyed at having to run all over the place. Characters are surprisingly life-like, and you wont find yourself just being able to short cut yourself through tasks by sleeping or waiting a little. Characters have schedules during there day that they adhere to, and wont just come back to their houses if you run in and out again. Once again really life-like. Your choice to support one group or person may find you ill favor with another, limiting your ability to buy certain items or get information, essentially changing how you succeed in quests. Leveling up is quick enough so that you dont spend hours wandering around and fighting monsters final fantasy style, and yet not so fast that you are all powerful right away. You get all your magic spells within 20 hours or so, allowing you to have fun with them instead of getting some at the end of the game with no chance to use them. The adult like ability to get layed is also amusing and a refreshing twist, although dont worry those easily offended...no nudity. This game is long but surprisingly not frustrating. Boss fights are more like hard monsters and not impossibly huge beasts that take hours of training to survive. Several mini game like dice, fist fights, and drinking are also fun. 5 stars to gameplay. Gameplay 5 stars
  
  Audio: Absolutely amazing soundtrack!!! Interesting, well composed, not repetitive, and really reflects the dreary-ness of a post war wracked world, where money is hard to come by, and choices must be made between the lesser of two evils. Audio 5 stars.
  
  Now you may have noticed that Ive given five stars to everything. So why the four star rating? Well, you need one hell of a computer to play this game even close to smoothly. And that of course could be the one reason that negates all the positive things. My brother recently purchased a brand new xps with 3gb ram, Intel core 2 duo 2.4Ghz processor and a 256MB NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT video card, and running the game on medium setting still skips once in a while, and during a boss battle had to turn setting down to low. Setting on high is not playable during some cut scenes and boss battles.
  
  
• I love this game.
  By A388QZKC84WDDD on 2008-03-06
  Warts, and there are a few, and all. The load times are ridiculous most of the time. Some of the translation is a little shaky which leads to mystifying dialogue. Gameplay occasionally is repetitious. As a granny type person I find the "sex" aspect juvenile, but then I saw the creators of the game on video and guess what? Most look like teenagers and are probably close. With all these warts what is to love? Marvelous storyline, gorgeous graphics, wonderful battles, horrific monsters, not open ended by any means but very re-playable. (And I am sorry, but I think Geralt is just simply the coolest looking hero to come along in decades. But then being a gamer at my age embarrasses the kids and delights the grandkids so what do I know?) The developers are including in the enhanced version coming out in May, a modding tool, which if the brilliant player made mods of Morrowind and Oblivion are any indication, will lead to many hours of happy tweaking and furthering gameplay immensely. Even though the game contains a good bit of hackneyed "fetch and kill" quests, there is such a humorous freshness about the game that is in the end extremely appealing. Violence and language definitely keep the game in the mature zone. As for the sexual content, at least in the U.S. version, I've seen racier television commercials.
  
  I purchased the digital download and so cannot use the patch which according to forum users cuts load time to practically zilch. A patch for the digital form is supposed to be underway, and for those who have already purchased the game, the enhanced material coming out in may will be free for registered game owners. My pc is not exactly cutting edge, I only have one gig of ram and my video card is nvidia geforce 7900gs, and other than loading times, my game has so far been smooth with no crashes to the desktop yet, and I am almost at the end of the game.
  
  
• One of the best RPGs to date
  By AB6NPDB2E7Q4L on 2007-11-05
  One of the next generations of rpgs, the Witcher delivers all that it promises. Comparable to oblivion but much more story-driven and lacking a true sandbox enviroment.
  This game is what happens when you turn a great story into a video game. The world is much more mature,rough, and realistic then any other i've played.
  The story does have a guiding hand throughout it but it is so thoughtful and immersing that you feel like that's what you want or should be doing anyway. The trapping of old stagnant storied rpgs are not present in the Witcher. The game allows you to progress the story to your own tastes and the resolution can be reached in each chapter multiple ways.
  If you have a decent computer and a fan of rpg/action games, The Witcher is a must buy.
  
  
  
  
  
• Fantastic world, between Tolkien and Homer
  By A2Y8GCV4JIFQ6S on 2007-11-05
  I rather play the strategy and military games. I love Medal of Honour and Europa Universalis III. But this time I bought it because I've heard about book, which the game is based on. I am really stoned. I am a director of big company, but this day I stay at home, just to play.
  
  

• PC Gamer (1-year)

• Neverwinter Nights 2 Expansion Pack: Mask of the Betrayer
• Crysis
• Hellgate: London
• BioShock
• Mass Effect